Rickard steps down as Orange hoops coach

Wednesday

Apr 10, 2013 at 2:00 AM

There was a moment in February when SUNY Orange men's coach Tom Rickard realized basketball was taking too much time away from his family. Following a painstaking month of contemplation, Rickard has decided to resign his coaching job.

Ken McMillan

There was a moment in February when SUNY Orange men's coach Tom Rickard realized basketball was taking too much time away from his family. Following a painstaking month of contemplation, Rickard has decided to resign his coaching job.

"I have been going back and forth for a month now, trying to figure it out and decide,'' Rickard said Tuesday. "It is kind of bittersweet. I enjoyed working at the college, but now I get to spend more time with my two sons and wife.''

Tom and Amy Rickard have two sons, ages 2½ and 10 months. Tom said his wife wanted him to keep the coaching job, but he felt he needed to help out more at home.

"Coaching junior college men's basketball is the toughest job in America, if you are doing it right,'' said Rickard, 40. "My closest game is an hour away, so my closest scout is an hour away. You do it the right way, you are not home three or four nights a week. I wasn't home for dinner. I wasn't home putting the kids to bed.''

Rickard was an assistant for eight seasons under his father, Paul, before taking over the head-coaching duties in 2006-07. Over the last seven seasons, four of his teams have reached 20 wins and another had 18. Two of his teams came within one win of reaching the national tournament.

"I am going to miss the fraternity with the coaches and the refs,'' Rickard said. "My favorite thing is interacting with the guys. Some of these kids haven't been taught (basketball) in their whole life — you can see it evolve over a season, and two months later they are actually good at it.''